The purchase contract was first reported Tuesday afternoon by the Albany Business Review.

Ganz's group has held the lease/purchase rights on the Tobin property since 1988, paying $9,000 a month to the county IDA.

"They become the owner next January," when the lease agreement ends, said Gary W. Domalewicz, the county IDA's chairman.

A number of other proposals for the property have been made, but none came to fruition.

"It's been different stumbling blocks for different projects," Ganz said.

Colonie Town Supervisor Paula Mahan, who said she was hearing of the purchase contract for the first time Tuesday afternoon, had mixed feelings.

"I would love to see the Tobin site redeveloped," she said, "but I'm not sure that would be an appropriate location for a casino."

Colonie voters opposed the casino amendment on last November's ballot, with 48.7 percent in favor and 51.3 percent opposed, according to AllOverAlbany.com.

But Domalewicz said the site would be "an ideal spot for a casino."

The site is adjacent to the Everett Road exit off I-90 and to Amtrak's Empire Corridor line.

He said that with I-90 exit, "you won't have the traffic problems."

And he said the city could use the 600 to 700 jobs a casino would provide.

Of the crowds it would attract, "they're all going to Foxwoods and Turning Stone," Domalewicz said. "I'd just as soon see them here in Albany County."

He estimated just clearing the site of the decrepit factory would cost $1 million.

Flaum Management's portfolio includes a number of retail developments, the closest of which is Queensbury Plaza outside Glens Falls.

Retail developments have been among the projects previously proposed for the Tobin site.

Town officials have previously said that merchants ranging from Whole Foods and Walmart to Home Depot and Cabela's had considered the site.

But local residents opposed at least some of those plans, concerned about the traffic they'd bring to neighboring streets.

Flaum has also looked at other sites for casinos, and the Times Union reported last month that it had lined up a potential site in the Catskills, the Shawanga Lodge. Flaum also has an agreement with the Seneca Indian Nation for a potential casino in Monroe County.